Obligitory New Year's post: Check
People act like New Year's is such a big deal. They make grand promises to themselves that they don't really have the intention of keeping, they sing songs and kiss strangers, truly loving their neighbors for a few brief moments. But it's just a big sham. We count down the best of the past year: best movies, best songs, best celebrity catfights -- yes, to remember them, but also in preparation of forgetting. Because that's what New Year's is really all about for most people, forgetting. Forget the terrible things that happened, forget our shortcomings, forget our mistakes and hope that a new year will make everything instantly better. If 2010 is over, then everything that happened in 2010 is finished and can no longer come back to bite us in the ass.
Except, if we're prepared to instantly forget and dispose of everything that happened over the course of the year on one night, then what's the point of anything we do (or say we'll do) during the next? All of 2011 will be nothing more than a countdown to December 31, when we can throw confetti and praise our chosen deity that it's finally done with. It's a perplexing cycle, but when you think about the human condition it makes sense. We like to think that things can be changed at the blink of an eye, without any real effort on our own part. It's why people flock like mad to new diets and religions and trends. Anything could be the one thing that fills in all the gaps and makes you whole.
But people, I think, aren't meant to be whole. We all have issues and things we need to work on, and true change takes time and work. Perfect people are fucking boring, and even most of the people you assume to be "perfect" have their own holes (often gaping ones). So don't make resolutions. Don't make silly promises you won't keep - instead, think about how you could work to improve your life and be who and what you want to be, and use the next few days, weeks and months of "nothingness" to actually do something about it.
The problem with the holiday season is how much emphasis is put on this one week out of the entire year. Christmas can be great, don't get me wrong - I love the trees, the lights and (some) of the music. I love seeing people I might not get to other times of the year and exchanging thoughtful gifts and watching movies like Die Hard and The Santa Clause. But it's one week out of the entire year, and as soon as it's over things just snap into this bleakness unparalleled by any other time of year. January is seriously the most awful month out of the entire year, and it doesn't really deserve to be. So I say, this year, try and appreciate January a little bit. Unlike the bustle and hustle of December, January is a time when winter activities can truly be enjoyed. Go sledding, drink some delicious hot chocolate with baby marshmallows and bask in the mellow warmth of the sun if you've got it (while remembering all of us poor souls living in the frozen tundras that won't see that giant ball of fire until April at the earliest).
And appreciate the whole year, as it happens. Don't let everything that happens to you in 2011 just be another thing to try and forget about this time next year. Live in the moment and appreciate that you get to experience the weird miracle that is life for just another day or two. And don't put too much pressure on yourself to miracle grow into someone else -- unless you're an asshole, you're probably pretty cool already.
Switching gears from holiday ranting a bit, I'd like to toss up my own contribution to the plethora of countdowns that plague every blog and website this time of year. I promised Christmas songs and that didn't happen, so instead you get the 7 songs that rocked my world in 2010. Enjoy!
1. Teeth - Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga as a whole rather revolutionized my musical world this year. She's just fabulous, everything pop music should be and I am SO EXCITED to be seeing her with Allison in April! It's going to be mind blowing, I'm sure. Teeth is probably my favourite song she's done so far, and my most-listened to song on iTunes and my ipod. There's just something really, really powerful about it that puts me in an insanely powerful mood when it's playing. I really, really want to make a music video for True Blood to this song because it feels like they were made for one another.
2. Coming To Terms - Carolina Liar
Another huge musical discovery for me this year was Carolina Liar. Last.fm started mixing them into my Something Corporate radio station and I fell in love and bought their entire album on iTunes (something I don't often do, I'm more of a song cherry picker). They've got new material coming out soon, which is ridiculously exciting, and I hope they end up coming nearby on tour because I will so be there. This song is my favourite they've done (#2 on my iTunes, natch) and exemplifies everything that's wonderful about their music. Lead volcalist Chad Wolf has a unique, penetrating voice, and I'm obsessed with their lyrical styling and drummer.
3. King of Wishful Thinking - New Found Glory with Patrick Stump
I have been a gigantic fan of New Found Glory since I was 13 years old and the boy I was head over heels in love with tossed me a mix CD that featured them quite prominently. Alas, our love was never meant to be - he knocked a girl up and moved down south to help her take care of the kid - but my love for NFG has stayed true. I realized a few months ago that I didn't quite own every single album they'd ever made, so I logged into my iTunes account and rectified that and found this cover on their From the Screen to Your Stereo II album. The original song is... well... painfully dull. Not bad (though the video is certifiably awful and perplexing), but just not a song you'd remember past 1990 when it was a hit. NFG's cover, however, is fucking awesome. I actually spent a whole week listening to this song at work every hour or so, that's how great it is. And this is a perfect example of why I love covers, because one band/artist can take a song and turn it around into something entirely new - and often 10x better.
4. Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Something really quite phenomenal has happened the past couple of years in hip hop, and I think this is a song that exemplifies it pretty well. I love this song. If I'm in a bad mood, this song will instantly lift me out and I will also on occasion begin to dance (usually a Very Bad Thing). Terrell also loves it, and we've spent many car rides blasting this and acting like giddy idiots because it makes us THAT happy. So much of the music on the pop stations this year focused on happiness, living in the moment, people just being wonderful and good how they were. And I loved that, I think it's just what everyone needed (especially me).
5. Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin
I talk about Jack's Mannequin way too fucking much on this blog, but I'm not sorry because they are amazing. This song had to be on this list because I listened to it nonstop for almost five months while I put together my senior video project in my head. This was my mantra, I heard those opening piano notes in my sleep and while I walked to and from class. Dark Blue speaks to all of the craziness of 2010 - the intensity of finishing college, finding a job and transferring myself to an entire new sort of life.
6. Graduate - Third Eye Blind
I couldn't not include this one, because like #5 this song was on repeat for almost half the year. And it's weird, because now I can't really bring myself to listen to it. I always hit skip on my iPod, and I think that maybe I built graduation up so much in my head that anything relating to it is just finished in my mind. College is over, I graduated and now all that's left ahead of me is the wide expanse of Life. Terrifying.
7. Young Forever - Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson
Let me come right out and say it: Jay-Z is incredible. An incredible artist, an insanely talented lyricist and a really cool guy. I'm still getting into a lot of his other music, but this song zapped me through the heart and that's why I had to put it on this list. Just do yourself a favor, even if you skipped every other video on this list, watch this one and listen to the lyrics. You'll be thankful you did.
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